A crowd of 40 skateboarders, parents, business people and community leaders gathered this morning at Countryside Marketplace to present ideas on bringing a skate park to Menifee.

Free coffee and donuts provided by Starbucks was on hand to feed the morning discussion group as they tackled questions on finding a location and raising funds, among other challenges.

"I got a lot of emails from kids who said they want a skate park in Menifee", said Darcy Kuenzi, who organized the meeting. "But what are the needs of the skaters in the community? Should we have one big park, or multiple smaller parks?"

Mieke Tankink, a grandmother and local businesswoman who runs Ohana Smoothies, offered the idea of creating smaller parks in shopping centers. "We should get shopping centers to create small areas designated for skateboarders".

John Page, youth director with Paloma Youth Basketball, seemed more in favor of creating one large park, but expanding even further to create a recreation center. "This could be more than just a skate park, we could bring in basketball, a swimming pool, soccer fields", Page spoke. "It's high time the city thinks bigger."

As a result of the meeting, a smaller focus group of 18 people persons was created to concentrate efforts. They'll continue to explore possible locations, find partners willing to help get a project going, and how to raise funds.

Cynthia Nemelka, who will be leading the focus group, added that the skate park needs to be as centrally located as possible. "It needs to be close to the city center, someplace that's easily accessible to everyone."

With regards to the turn out, Kuenzi seemed excited. "It exceeded my expectations", she stated. "The community stepped up to make something happen in their city. It's not always government's job to get something done, it's the people helping their government."

The focus group will be meeting next Saturday, September 17, at 8:00am at Diamond Realty, 27070 Sun City Blvd.

The public is invited, and the group is still accepting more members.

For more information, contact Cynthia Nemelka at (951) 309-1000, or e-mail her at cynthia@teamdadanddaughters.com

Like to share?

Related

Post a Comment

I think multiply smaller parks would be best that way we could scatter them across our city where EVERYONE could enjoy them. I hate see our kids skateboarding in our shopping centers it is so dangerous and I am proud OUR city is listening to us and our children.... Give them something to do that they like and they will stay out of trouble!! Makes all parents and the kids happy ..... WHAT ELSE COULD WE ASK FOR!!

Yes, it's very important that we provide places for our city's finest youth to congregate. How else are they going to share profanity, get drugs, smoke, and keep up on the latest in vandalism techniques?

I'm in favor of the "one big park." That way well keep them contained and not everyone will be forced to "enjoy them."

I think smaller parks would be the better option, for fostering community through the formation of teams and friendly competitions that could be had between the parks. These same teams could be utilized to help maintain the parks as well. I wonder if the local schools would be interested in forming teams for those kids that normally wouldn't participate in their schools usual activities. If so, might that be a possible avenue for funding?

It is time & kids need a safe place for skateboarding! It's an awesome sport & skill that gives children the chance to feel good about themselves. It's usually low self esteem & boredom that adds to drug abuse or vandalism. There are a lot of good kids out there who want some clean fun. Have you ever really watched those kids using the parks and parking lots to skate? They are building skills & deserve the right environment. I'm proud of our city & the group that is working on bringing skateparks to Menifee. It's not "high time" it's "about time".

we need to keep it all to 'one' park, not many small parks, its hard enough to get funding for just one park rather that 4-5 parks. As for teams, I suggest they practice amongst themselves and then have contest with other cities such as Murietta, Temecula etc, I suggest Mr. David go on line and look up other cities who are really big in this sport, there he will find cities who are so good at this sport they even go international. One park can be slit up into two areas, allowing the little 'guys' there own area. As far as what equipment should be allowed and if the park will need to be monitored, these things will all have to be worked out thru research with what has and has not worked with other cities.

We've had our 2nd meeting and created a facebook page to stay in touch. Join US and invite your skater friends, bmx freestyle, bmx, inline skaters, parents, business owners, interested parties with GREAT ideas...etc to our next meeting.

I a Skater Think that they should not build a Bunch of small parks They get too crowded as it is! They need to Make one big park with other things around the Skatepark. Small Parks would just make alot of skaters not want to go to them because all the little kids like getting in the way and would not be Smart to build small parks! Thanks....

As a biker/scooter rider, I believe we should have one big skate park instead of a group of small ones. My reasoning in this is that small parks may not bring as many people and will be over crowded. If we,the people of Menifee, have a skate park at all, you will see a significant decrease of destruction of property and tickets due to kids riding "spots" that are illegal to ride. -Ryan Henderson, Menifee,Ca.